The Dallas Post The Dallas Post Dallas, PA Wednesday, October 13, 1993 11 By DAVE KONOPKI Sports Writer The world of sports is replete with stories about the special relationships between a father and his athletic son. Endless col- '~umns of type have been written about the bond. Now comes the same type of ! story, only this time it is a tale | with a different twist. Three years ago, Rodney Sen- | nett took his 13-year-old child to i the Irem Temple Country Club for | their first round of golf together. | | i |] ha = > IAS A intimin A RAD His offspring immediately took a liking to the game and would later become a two-time district cham- pion as a 16-year-old high school junior. a But the time spent on the golf CA course did more than improve his | child's game. The more time they | spenton the links, the closer they became. And now, Rodney Sen- nett is not only the father of his protege, he is the child's inspira- ton. _ Oh, by the way, his golfing phenom is a girl. wo». NikkiSennett, a junior at Lake- , Lehman High School, recently hb ©. "captured her second consecutive Sports\Week District 2 girl's golf championship with an 18-hole score of 93 at the Scranton Municipal Golf Course. Sennett will now compete in the state tournament later this month in State College. “When I started, I just wanted to be able to hit the ball like my father,” said Sennett of her dad, who is a 10-handicapper at Irem Temple Country Club. “He's al- ways been there for me. He was there today when I was out prac- ticing for two hours. He's a great inspiration.” After winning the district title last year as a sophomore, Sennett posted scores of 89 and 90 on Penn State's Blue Course to finish 15th in the state. This year, she's hoping to im- prove on that impressive finish. “I'd like to finish in the top five,” said Sennett, who lives at Har- veys Lake with her parents, Rod- ney and Ruth and brother, Steve. “My drives are a lot longer this year and I should be on most of the greens in regulation. If my swing is on, I feel I can do very well. My short game has always carried me through and this course favors the short game.” In addition to her golfing ex- ‘Mounts post fourth shutout "By DAVE KONOPKI ++ Sports Writer Before the football season be- gan, pigskin fans throughout the ~.Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . were circling the date of October 16 on their-calendars. That was the date the Wolver- ... ines of Michigan were to invade PD . Happy Valley to take on Penn .. State for a Rose Bowl bid, and a -.- possible shot at national champi- *,* onship on the line. .“= It was also the date the Dallas - Mountaineers were scheduled to travel to Mountaintop for their game against Crestwood. Many people including most of the -. coaches in the Wyoming Valley ... Conference, envisioned this game “as a battle between two division » s “ unbeatens with the winner hav- © ring an inside track to the WVC # Division II title. © “Championship Saturday in ~ Pennsylvania” was set. “Buta funny thing happened on .: the way to the big dance. Michi- i gan lost to Notre Dame and then 3 i * to Michigan State. Crestwood lost ;ito everyone. Now, instead of en 2% - “Championship Saturday,” Octo- ; *- ber 16 will be used by Penn State J 8 and the Dallas Mountaineers as a = mere stepping stone to a title. 5 Both the Dallas and Lake- Lehman football teams will be in “action this weekend. Dallas is coming off an impressive 28-0 blanking of Meyers while Lehman »-. fell to Hanover, 28-6. On Friday night, the Black Knights travel to Wilkes-Barre > Memorial Stadium to take on GAR “while on Saturday afternoon, Dallas takes to the road for only the second time this season as “they travel to Mountaintop for their game against Crestwood. While last weekend's games were as different as night and day, they did have one thing in common - for all intents and purposes, they were both over by halftime. At Hanover, Kevin Proc- tor ran for 227 yards in the first half to give the Hawkeyes a 28-0 lead at intermission. At Dallas, the Mountaineers used a stingy defense and a late second period offensive attack to take a 21-0 lead into the locker room at the break. Here is a recap of last week- and’'s contests followed by an analysis of this weekend's games and my weekly predictions. Fol- owing a pair of correct picks last veek, the season prognostication ecord now stands at 9-3. CN] Penn’ Tae. ea CI) > e - ® TP SR FR VE ES SES RR FS SSS FTF GD SE i FE i oS aE ah SF gp al a a Pe oF Fe any - ® dallas 28 - Meyers O A different week. A different roup of heroes. i EJ £ That's what makes this Dallas team so spe- cial. One week it’s Brian Brady and the passing game. The next week, the backfield rushes for more than 200 yards. Then, it's the big boys, as the offensive and defensive lines take center stage. This week, in addition to oth- ers, it's the secondary. Besides Brady, this group is not made up of a group of house- hold names. But guys like Jarred Cooney and Brian Ford are forc- ing people to sit up and take no- tice, Meyers quarterback Jeff La- batch, a three-year starter, com- pleted just one pass in 11 at- tempts on Saturday and threw two interceptions. “Our secondary should be complimented,” said head coach Ted Jackson, who saw his team's shutout streak run to 12 quar- ters. “I don't think Ford and Cooney played 10 varsity plays before this season. But they've stepped in and done a great job. Charlie Siglin has played the best two games of his career during the last two weeks. He played an excellent game against Meyers." For the second consecutive week, the Mounts shared the wealth in the endzone as four different Dallas players scored. Buddy Rhodes got the Mounts on the board with a one-yard run following a 63-yard reception by Siglin. Rich Butcofski followed with a 29-yard pass touchdown reception from Brady. Brady then hit Mike Viglone with a 17-yard scoring strike before scoring himself on a 37-yard scamper down the sideline in the third quarter. Jeff Kunkle connected on all four PAT's. Brady finished the day 5-for- 10 for 154 yards and two touch- down passes. Dallas finished the day with 355 yards of total offense while holding a potent Meyers’ attack to just 100. Hanover 28 - Lehman 6 For the third time in the last four weeks, the story was the same for the Lake-Lehman football team. A slow start, a big lead by their opponent followed by the Knights showing character by not quitting and making a game of it by playing hard. The Knights couldn't control Proctor in the first half as he rushed 12 times for 227 yards and four touchdowns. But it wasn't as though the Knights didn't have their chances. Sophomore John Oliver picked off a pass on the game's first se- ries and the Knights drove to the Hanover eight-yard line. But the ake-Lehman Football Boosters meet Oct. 14 The Lake-Lehman Football Booster Club will meet at 7:30 p.m. on ursday, Oct. 14 at Grotto Pizza, Harveys Lake. Coach Gorgone will w the film of the Hanover game. All interested parents and friends ootball players and football cheerleaders are invited to attend. slopes as on the course. ploits, Sennett is an all-around athlete. She is a member of the Lake-Lehman girls soccer team and has been as successful on the Last year, she was a member of the * United States Junior National Ski Team. One person who has been impressed with Sennett’s athletic ability is her golf coach, Mike Sharok. While she is quick to give credit to her coach, Sharok knows Sennett's work ethic has gone a long way in determining her suc- cess. “She works at it, she works at it a lot,” said Sharok, of his junior. “Her short game has impressed me since the first time I saw her play. Every year she’s been get- ting longer off the tee. With some more work, she can be a very good golfer. There's no doubt about it, by the time she's finished playing here at Lehman she'll be one of the best female golfers to ever play in the conference.” Serinett has been taking weekly lessons for the past two years from Gene Yanovitch, who is the golf pro at the Lords Valley Coun- try Club. Sennett, who hits nearly 200 golf balls per day, accom- Nikki Sennett drives for golf goals plished a rare feat earlier in this season. Inamatch against Bishop O'Reilly, Sennett shot a nine-hole 39 at Four Seasons Golf Course and finished as low medalist, beating all the female and male golfers alike. “I really don't think about it,” said Sennett, who is the lone female golfer at the majority of the league matches. “I think the pressure is more on them (the boys) than on me. I don't think they want to be beaten by a girl.” But if getting beaten by a girl is considered a disappointment, there are a lot of disappointed golfers in the Wyoming Valley Conference. Sennett, whose favorite profes- sional players are Fred Couples and Beth Daniels, is hoping to continue her competitive golfing days after high school. “I'd like to continue it for a long time. I'd like to play in college if I had the chance,” said Sennett, who has received numerous let- ters of interest from Division I colleges. “Golf is a very fun game and I really like it. You need to take a break from it every once in a while, but I'd like to play it for years to come. REACHING FOR THE CATCH - Dallas sophomore Ted Jackson reached for a pass during the Mounts' 28-0 win over Meyers last drive was halted and a field goal attempt was blocked. After Ha- nover scored, Lehman took their next possession and put together a 16-yard drive, taking the ball as close as the Hanover 10. But then came the play that crushed the Knights. After Lehman turned the ball .over on downs, Proctor took the _pitch on their first play from scrim- mage and bolted 85 yards to score and give Hanover a 14-0 lead. “That play broke our back,” said Gorgone. “I don't under- stand it. We didn't play that bad. In fact, we came back and domi- nated the second half. Looking at the film, we did a lot of nice things. If we could have scored on one of those first two drives, we could have taken some of the steam out of them.” Mike Pitcavage scored a one- yard run on Lehman's first pos- session of the second half for the Knights’ lone score and their de- fense shut out Hanover in the final two quarters. Oliver finished the game 10-for-22 for 112 yards. Tim Waslick, one of the league's premiere receivers, caught a pair of passes for 84 yards. Dallas (5-1, 3-0) at Crestwood (0-5, 0-3) A quick look at the teams’ re- spective records and the first word that comes to mind is “blowout”. Right? Well, it may happen but don't be too sure. “We've just got done watching three films of this team and this is a good football team,” said Jackson of the Comets. “I said in the summer that Meyers and Crestwood could be the two most talented teams in the division. After watching this film, I'm not sure if wasn't right. They've just been snake bitten. This could easily be a team that could be 5- 1 right now.” Jackson may not be blowing “coaching hype” smoke. The Comets were picked by many to be a legitimate contender for the WVC Divison II title and have an outstanding tailback in Mike Graham. But anything that could go wrong, has gone wrong for the Comets. Fumbles. Interceptions. Punt returns for touchdowns. Fumbles returned for touch- downs. But make no mistake; this is a very talented football team. Gra- ham ran for more than 150 yards against Marion Catholic last week and, the week before, ran for more than 160 yards against Lake- Captain, crew tourney at Four Seasons The Four Seasons Golf Club, Exeter, will be holding a Captain & Crew Tournament on Sunday, Oct. 24. Tee times will be accepted starting at 8 a.m. by callng the Pro Shop at 655-8869. The $23 entree fee includes 18 holes, meal, beverages and hundreds of dollars worth of prizes. TOP GOLFER - Lake-Lehman junior Nikki Sennett has set her sights high this golf season. split end. Lehman. In fact, despite losing 28-13, the Comets racked up more than 350 yards of total offense against Marion. PREDICTION: Dallas is play- ing as well as any Class AA team in the state right now. Offense. Defense. They have the whole package. And I said it before, this team is only going to get better. Crestwood is not as bad as their record indicates and I think they'll give the Mounts a tougher time than Meyers. At least for a while. Graham is a talented run- ner, but the Comets just don't have the passing attack to com- plement his talent. The old cliche “This game was closer than the final score would indicate” could apply after this contest. DALLAS 30 - CRESTWOOD 7 Lehman (3-3, 1-2) at GAR (1-2, 2-4) This could be an interesting matchup. The game will feature some of the most talented under- classmen skill people in the divi- sion. Lehman has Oliver and junior Waslick while GAR has sophomores, quarterback Alex Janoski and running back Man- uel DeGraffenreid, and freshman fullback Harold Jackson. POST PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK / week. Jackson, who doubles as a backup Quarieroack, often plays If the Black Knights put to- gether four solid quarters of foot- ball, they could win this game easily. Whether or not they will, is anyone's guess. “You have to play assignment - football against a team like GAR," said Gorgone of the Grenadier's option offense. “They're not as physical as Hanover, but they have some kids who can fly. “Our kids have to bounce back after that (Hanover) loss. I don't know what frame of mind they'll be in, but I'd be shocked if they don't have a good week of practice and play a good game. We have a group of kids who like to play football. They may make mis- takes, but they'll never quit on you.” PREDICTION: It's that type of attitude that can make this a successful season for the Black Knights. Against GAR, the Knights shouldn't have a problem moving the ball. But Lehman, which has given up nearly 300 rushing yards in their last two games, will have to shut down GAR's running at- tack on the artificial turf. This is a big game for Lehman. A win keeps them right in the pack of the Division II, two games behind Dallas. Look for a shootout. LEHMAN 28 - GAR 18. Misericordia welcomes past hoopsters The athletic department at College Misericordia will host a reception for all former Misericordia basketball players at the basketball home opener, Wednesday, Dec. 1. If you are a former Misericordia basketball player, contact Scott Crispell in the athletic department at 674-6398.
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